Would you want to own a credit card once belonging to O.J. Simpson? Apparently, many collectors do. Bidding for Simpson’s Bank of America credit card is topping $2,500 at Goldin. There have already been over 50 bids as of Monday afternoon for the auction that ends April 25.
“The card itself displays mild peripheral wear and small spots of light discoloration. The reverse side authorized signature section has not been signed, and the card expired in Jan. 2023,” Goldin writes in the description lot.
This auction comes after Simpson died at the age of 76 on April 10. The NFL star acquitted of murder was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year.
TMZ reports Jonathan Lepore bought the credit card for $70 on eBay in the summer of 2023. He tells the media outlet he forgot he even owned the credit card until Simpson’s death jogged his memory.
Lepore plans on donating 10 percent of the final sale to the National Network to End Domestic Violence.
Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of Goldin, isn’t surprised at how high the bidding has gotten for Simpson’s credit card.
“With O.J.’s recent passing, this card is a small piece of that story and we could see some exciting numbers at auction,” says Goldin to TMZ.
Sales for Simpson cards and memorabilia skyrocketed on eBay following his death. Collectors bought items ranging from Simpson’s 1970 Topps rookie card, to autograph photos and helmets, and even a white Ford Bronco trading card.
To say Simpson left behind a complicated legacy is quite an understatement. “The Juice” was one of the greatest running backs ever, becoming the first NFL player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. On top of his Hall of Fame career, Simpson would end up starring in movies and commercials. For those growing up in the 1980s, he was instantly recognizable as a pitchman for Hertz, his role in “The Naked Gun” movies and as an NFL broadcaster.
That all changed, though, on June 12, 1994, when Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown-Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were killed outside her condominium in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. Five days later, tens of millions of people watched the infamous white Ford Bronco chase where Simpson and his friend, Al Cowlings, led Los Angeles police on a slow-speed pursuit that ended at Simpson’s house, where he was eventually taken into custody.
What followed was the “Trial of the Century,” where after 11 months of testimony and only four hours of deliberations, Simpson was found not guilty of murder. However, a civil trial jury found Simpson liable in the deaths of Brown-Simpson and Goldman and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to the victims’ families.
The trial divided a nation as it came on the heels of four Los Angeles police officers found not guilty of assault in the beating of Rodney King.
“I don’t think most of America believes I did it,” Simpson told The New York Times in 1995, shortly after the verdict. “I’ve gotten thousands of letters and telegrams from people supporting me.”
Simpson did end up spending nearly nine years in prison for taking sports memorabilia at gunpoint inside a Las Vegas hotel room in September 2007. Simpson was convicted of armed robbery and other related charges on Oct. 3, 2008. He was released on Oct. 1, 2017.
Simpson spent the last seven years of his life mainly out of the spotlight, but he was the subject of an FX miniseries and an ESPN documentary in 2016.